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Tires That Have a Left and Right

A

alimoalem

Diamond Member
My front-left rim has a small crack. If I have a tire with ~35psi, it'll be out in 2 days. I've been running on a spare for a little bit but I've gone way over the 300 miles @55mph. I have a spare rim (doesn't match the other three but whatever). The tire on the rim has treading on it such that it needs to placed on the right.

My question is, is it really that bad for the tire/car/anything if I put the rim on the left?
 
In terms of construction there is no reason the tire cannot be mounted "backwards". However, running the tire "backwards" will significantly reduce its ability to channel water away in the rain and will also probably make the tire louder than normal.

Provided that you exercise significant caution, especially when driving in the rain or other bad weather, you should be safe to mount the tire on the "wrong" side.

ZV
 
What kind of tire? Some are not designed at all to run backwards and can fail by doing so due to many factors.
 
Originally posted by: alkemyst
What kind of tire? Some are not designed at all to run backwards and can fail by doing so due to many factors.
Click to expand...

Unless he went through a time warp and picked up a set of bias-ply tires from the 1960's, there is absolutely, positively, zero reason, from a tire construction point of view, that he cannot safely run the tire in the reverse direction.

The only reasons that modern, radial-ply, tires are directional are for water shedding and noise reasons. Running the tires backwards will not cause any premature wear and will absolutely not cause tire failure.

The OP will need to be careful in the rain, but will have no other concerns.

Straight from Goodyear's own company. I think that Goodyear knows just a little bit about tires. Note the bold portion.

My directional tires were mounted incorrectly and are rotating in the wrong direction. What should I do?

Tires with a "directional" tread design are intended to roll and perform in a given direction. The sidewall will have arrows indicating the rolling direction of the tire. If installed in the wrong direction, the tire will not perform its intended function. However, no damage or premature wear to the tire will result. The tire should be dismounted and remounted by a certified technician to roll in the proper direction.
Click to expand...

ZV
 
Thanks for the posts and for your link Zenmervolt.

Yes, the other 3 tires are unidirectional so I can't just take one from the right and put it on the left...I'd have the same problem.

nfwsnake, my uncle has a shop with the machine that sets tires onto the rims but it doesn't work with a low-profile rim, so I'd have to take it somewhere else, pay to have the tire removed, then pay again to have it reset. I'm kinda looking for a low-budget solution 😛

Zenmervolt, do you know if I'd lose performance on dry ground? Or should I exercise caution and not take corners at speed?
 
Originally posted by: alimoalem
Thanks for the posts and for your link Zenmervolt.

Yes, the other 3 tires are unidirectional so I can't just take one from the right and put it on the left...I'd have the same problem.

nfwsnake, my uncle has a shop with the machine that sets tires onto the rims but it doesn't work with a low-profile rim, so I'd have to take it somewhere else, pay to have the tire removed, then pay again to have it reset. I'm kinda looking for a low-budget solution 😛

Zenmervolt, do you know if I'd lose performance on dry ground? Or should I exercise caution and not take corners at speed?
Click to expand...

On dry pavement, there shouldn't be a significant change in overall traction, but I'm not fully certain and I know that there will be a large reduction in wet traction.

I would not run a car like this for an extended period of time. Even though it will not physically harm the tire, you will have to always remember that wet handling will be thrown off a large amount. In all honesty, even though it's probably no worse than the ultra-cheap tires that you can find in discount tire stores, I don't like the potential to throw off balance in wet handling. I was assuming that this was just a temporary thing while you had the other wheel repaired. That is, you weren't intending to run it for more than a week or two.

ZV
 
Well my plan was to do something about the cracked rim a month ago but I guess I've been lazy. It is a temporary fix but it might be for a couple months. I was just hoping it would be a better option than using a spare tire for another few hundred miles as the spare has already logged quite a few miles.

I was thinking about getting the rim welded but I'm not sure it's a perfect solution. There's a small crack on the edge of the rim (where the rim and the tire touch each other) about 3/4" long. It isn't huge...if the tire is filled, it'll drop to 5-10psi (i think) after a couple days. But it would be too troublesome refilling the tire every day or two, plus I'm sure the integrity of the rim would be reduced, even if the crack is small. Do you know if welding it would be a good fix?
 
Originally posted by: alkemyst
What kind of tire? Some are not designed at all to run backwards and can fail by doing so due to many factors.
Click to expand...
I'd be interested in knowing what some of those factors are.
 
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